HiSTORY OF EUROPE, [rig 
has. in no degree been equalled fince. 
the days of Xerxes, they had little 
caufe to be apprehenfive, of either 
oreign invafion or domeftic confpi- 
wacy,: and yet they feem to have 
been tremblingly alive to,both. 
_ The admirers. of a flowery and 
eloquent ityle may not be diipleafed 
at feeing the manner in which our 
author, Rabaut, defcribes the con- 
duct and proceedings of the. new fole 
power of the empire under thefe 
circumftances. ‘¢ The national af- 
fembly, occupied in parrying tkefe 
attacks, was {till advancing with 
eat ftrides, trampling upon the 
ruins of defpotifm, combating every 
Brejusice, difcomfiting every etror, 
aking. war on every abufe, de- 
fosing ufurped rights, and re-efla- 
ifhing that precious equality, 
which gives anew to nations the ro- 
buft benefits of youth, and regene- 
‘rates them, by reftoring them to 
their primitive ftate of purity.” 
We know fome cavillers might afk, 
How that equality could be re-efta- 
blithed which never before fubfitt- 
ed? and might likewifle perverfely 
aquire, In what period of the gol- 
oh age that primitive purity exift- 
ed, to which the people were now fo 
pappily reftored? But it might well 
be anfwered, That fuch men, who 
would wifh to manacle eloquence, 
and to fhackle flowery defcription, 
mutt be by nature adverfe to all the 
beauties of ftyle, and graces of com- 
pofition; and mutt likewife labour 
under fome fatal prejudices, which 
would lead them to quettion the le- 
_ gitimacy of the new philofophy. 
We have yet taken no fpecific 
_motice of the fituation of the king 
and the royal family from the time 
ff their removal to Paris,, The pa- 
face of the Thuilleries, which was 
A@eitined to be their prifon, had been 
fo long uninhabited, was fo much, 
out of repair, the rooms were fo 
cold and damp, and the furniture, 
either removed or totally ruined, 
that there was not a fingle apart- 
ment in the whole, which, with re- 
fpect even to. health, independent of 
appearance or convenience, was fit 
for the reception af any perfon what- 
ever. Thefe were not, however, 
times for the wafting of muchthought, 
in the contemplation of {mall evils, 
when the greateft that could occur 
were conftantly, to be apprehended, 
if not actually expected. There is 
no doubt but the apartments, fo far 
as was immediately neceflary to the 
convenience of the royal family, 
were foon furnifhed, and rendered 
otherwife habitable. STE, 
~ The beft and moft authentic ac- 
count which we have feen of the 
{tate of the king’s confinement is 
given by an Englifhman, whofe ve- 
facity 1s unimpeachable, and whe 
from the extenfivenefs of his con- 
nections and acquaintance with per- 
fons at that time of the frit rank in 
France, as well as from his mixin 
much with perfons of all claffes Ea 
condition in life, had opportunities 
of informatien which feldom occur 
to foreigners. For we are to ob- 
ferve, that in perufing Rabaut and 
others of the democratical writers, 
it would never occur to any reader, 
who was not otherwife acquainted 
with the fubjeét, that the king had 
been at any time under the {mallet 
degree whatever of reftraint or du- 
refs. 
It appears from this authority, 
that early in the year 1790, but 
when, it being near three months 
after the proceffion from Verfailles, 
the violence and fufpicion of the peo- 
ple might be fuppofed confiderably 
abated, that, at that period,a body of 
[14] 800 
! 
